Binding: It’s a non lay flat, perfect bound book. They are planning to reintroduce lay flat books again soon. The pages are well put together, feels good to page through, but I was a bit “judgemental” of the way the cover was attached to the book. It’s nothing to be concerned about, it just wasn’t the most elegant solution I’ve seen.

Cover: Imagewrap hardcover, front and back. Logo on the back (removable for surcharge). Mine is glossy, good touch, good colours. I like the dust jacket, but it doesn’t come with all sizes. They have other options too (see above). Spine text and inlay text on dust jacket.

Paper: A great selection to choose from, however, not all of them are available for all the sizes. For my 11×8.5 book the thickest paper I could use was the Lustre 200. It’s a pretty stock, nice texture, nice gloss. I was disappointed a bit that I wasn’t eligible for the Semi-Gloss 300. But the lustre is fantastic too.

Printing: Digital printing, good colours, good dynamic range and nice shadows. Some digital artifacts are visible, but not more than with any other digital pressed book.

5.Software:
You have two main options:
1. PDF to book. They advertise this quite heavily, especially for Apple Books. Even if your PDF is a slightly different dimension than their book specs, it will crop it to the nearest size. Very easy to use, and great results.

2. Using their templates. They have a marketplace where everybody can contribute and get paid for their templates. For this reason you need to pay for them. They are good templates but they are badly displayed in the browser. You can only see numbers instead of sample photos, which makes it harder to visualise your book. Otherwise they are good templates. My thoughts on this are the same as on Shutterfly. If all the other competing companies offer free amazing templates, then only charge, if you can give something really outstanding.

Delivery:
You have quite a few options, from economy to express, which is great. I choose international economy, was about 2 weeks, and costed $14.99

Deals:
Not so many as on the other sites, but you can find them here too.

What it is for:
It’s fantastic for scrapbooking, PDF books, or to print off Apple books cheaper. Great for holidays, family and fun.

What it is not for:
I don’t think that it could compete with lay flat and flush mount books in the wedding or expensive baby books market, but it certainly doesn’t mean that you can’t print those pictures in these books. At the end of the day, their lustre paper is a huge plus when compared to other non lay flat books.